Ralph Lauren quietly shuttered its two-year-old 20,000-square-foot store last week. Other brands are expected to close boutiques in a city that has lost its luster for cash-rich mainland Chinese tourists.

Paris is percolating this fall, with new art exhibitions and eateries galore. The shop scene is heating up, too.

“French retailers signaled an increase in sales for the second month running during August,” according to a recent Markit report. “Employment stabilized following a sustained period of contraction, while purchasing of goods for resale declined at a slower pace.”RELATED STORY: Paris Preview — Ones to Watch >>

France is due to post its sixth consecutive annual drop in spending on clothing this year after a first half marked by bad weather and a rise in the cost of living, according to the French Federation of Women’s Ready-to-Wear. Sales slid 2.4 percent in the period, with women’s rtw down 1.6 percent, men’s off 2.8 percent and sales of children’s clothing declining 3.6 percent.

“Women’s ready-to-wear remains affected by the economic crisis, but it is resisting better than other sectors,” said François-Marie Grau, general secretary of the federation.

French apparel sales are set to end 2013 at an estimated 41.8 billion euros, or $55.8 billion at current exchange, according to Euromonitor research.

NEW BEGINNINGS: The Paris retail scene is seeing a flurry of activity this fall.

On Thursday, Moncler will inaugurate its Paris flagship just steps from its previous home on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The three-story boutique, designed by architecture studio Gilles & Boissier, will carry all the brand’s collections for men and women, in addition to accessories.

Children’s label Petit Bateau is hosting a pop-up store in the Marais district from Sept. 23 to Oct. 22 to celebrate the launch of the first collection for adults designed by its new artistic directors, Gildas Loaëc and Masaya Kuroki of hip label Maison Kitsuné.

Danish brand By Malene Birger is making a big push into the French capital with the opening of its first freestanding store in Palais Royal, as well as a 460-square-foot corner at Galeries Lafayette’s flagship on Boulevard Haussmann.

Misericordia, the clothing line born out of the shantytowns of Lima, Peru, is also gaining a foothold in Paris with the opening of a bijou black-and-white boutique in the trendy Bastille area with a highly unusual feature: The changing room is a black oak 19th-century confessional.

Fans of Anne Fontaine’s signature white shirts can get a preview of the store she will open on New York’s Madison Avenue in November with her new boutique on Rue Saint-Honoré — both spaces are the work of interior designer Gabriel Kowalski.— Joelle Diderich and Laure Guilbault

On Wednesday, the collective Pre Helsinki is to host a presentation of five Helsinki-based emerging designers at a showroom in the Marais neighborhood. Talents include Satu Maaranen, the 2013 Hyères Festival Grand Prix recipient, plus Siloa & Mook, Ensaemble, Lepokorpi and Sasu Kauppi.

Then on Sept. 30, the Finnish Institute on Rue des Écoles on the Left Bank, is opening the Instituutti store and café. Dedicated to Finnish design at the outset, it will start featuring Finnish fashion soon.

Meanwhile, the café is to serve classic Finnish brunch, including reindeer meat from Lapland and coffee from Coutume Café, the Parisian hot spot billed to be the supplier of the finest roasted beans in town.

— Laure Guilbault

The Pre Helsinki presentation is Sept. 25 from 4 to 8 p.m. It will be in the showroom Sept. 26 to 30 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or by appointment. 67 Rue Quincampoix, 75003 Tel.: +33-6 -83–73-21-76

A MOVEABLE FEAST: Paris has plenty of hot spots to quell the hunger pangs between and after the shows. Eric Fréchon, chef of the Hotel Bristol’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant and of the Mini Palais — a fashion crowd favorite inside the Grand Palais after Chanel shows — this month opened a venue in Paris’ Saint-Lazare train station, called Lazare.

Here, he serves classic and French food, like steak à cheval, the Gallic answer to burgers, and coquillettes, which are French-style macaroni and cheese. (However this version has truffles — it is Fréchon, after all.)

With his Paris-Deauville light soufflé dessert filled with caramel, Fréchon pays tribute to the seaside Normandy town that a Saint-Lazare train route serves.

It is uncommon for a Parisian building to have a flat roof. So when Adrien Boissaye and Christophe Talon found a 4,000-square-foot level rooftop overlooking Paris, they started dreaming. Two years and a lot of paperwork later, they opened Le Perchoir (“Hen Roost”). Over the summer, it became a favorite destination of hip Parisians, who line up to sip a mojito or glass of rosé while admiring the view over the Sacré Coeur.

The owners intend to keep the rooftop bar open all winter, providing blankets and heaters. There is also a Le Perchoir restaurant inside, on the building’s upper floor.

Encore is joining the list of hot restaurants on the Rue Richer. Japanese chef Yoshi Morie cooks up seasonal fare there, such as tender pig and roasted root vegetables and fig compote for dessert. Ingredients come from suppliers such as Hugo Desnoyer, the Michelin brigade butcher, and Du Pain et des Idées for the Pain des Amis country loaves. The restaurant seats 25 and has bare decor that includes wooden tables.

The boudoir-sized restaurant has a past. In the Seventies, it belonged to Madame Claude, whose legal troubles ultimately prevented her from becoming a restaurateur. For the next 35 years, it was a discreet Italian restaurant that drew a mix of well-heeled locals, royalty and fashion, media and movie types. That’s not likely to change: The new owner and maitre d’ (and longtime client) Hervé de Seynes has revamped the menu and freshened up the decor, but the insidery spirit remains. Market-driven Italian favorites include a burrata that’s flown in daily and “real” carbonara (without cream) at fair prices, especially for this neighborhood. The lunch menu goes for 24 euros, or $32.

It’s last call for the Plaza Athénée, as the hotel on Avenue Montaigne is closing for partial renovation from Oct. 1 to June 1. For those in town right after Paris Fashion Week, 1,000 lots of the hotel’s furniture — including from the Patrick Jouin-designed bar — will be displayed for the public from Oct. 4 to 6 before being auctioned at Artcurial’s Hôtel Marcel-Dassault on Oct. 7 and 8.

ALSO ON SHOW: While women walk the runways, men are taking over many a Paris museum this season.

The Musée d’Orsay offers an opportunity to explore the meaning of male nudity in art through an exhibition spanning more than two centuries. Showcasing works by the likes of Jacques-Louis David and Pierre et Gilles, it examines how the male body went from being an academic object of study to the keystone of Western artistic creation.

Walter Pfeiffer further investigates male beauty at the Galerie Sultana, which displays many of his portraits of boys. First shown in the Seventies, these include humorous works and quieter still lifes.

Black-and-white fashion photos of another Swiss photographer, Gérard Musy, are featured at the Hôtel Scribe. Initiating the trend of backstage photography, he revealed with a fresh eye the secret side of shows and emerging models in them.

Also focusing on beauty is “Desire and Sensuality,” an exhibit at the Musée Jacquemart-André, bringing together some 50 paintings by British artists of the Victorian era. It offers a glimpse of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, thanks to Pérez Simon’s private collection.

Meanwhile, the Petit Palais sheds light on the lesser-known Flemish painter Jacob Jordaens, through 120 of his masterpieces pulled together from around the world.

Across the street at the Grand Palais is a retrospective of the father of Cubism, Georges Braque. It highlights the painter’s interactions with Pablo Picasso, musician Erik Satie and a large number of poets.

Paris goes pop with Roy Lichtenstein. Opening with his first iconic comic strip-inspired paintings, the Centre Pompidou exhibition not only includes works referring to masters like Matisse but also examines Lichtenstein’s status as a key postmodern figure, including sculptures and etchings.

The Gagosian Gallery’s “Lichtenstein” show focuses on the influence German Expressionism had on the artist.

On the fashion front, besides major exhibitions like the retrospective of Azzedine Alaïa’s work at the Palais Galliera and Roger Vivier’s at the Palais de Tokyo, there are numerous presentations for jewelry lovers during Paris Fashion Week.

Jewelry will take center stage at “Circuits Bijoux,” an initiative involving about 80 events Paris-wide celebrating contemporary jewelry. “Dans la ligne de mire,” an exhibition at Les Arts Décoratifs, is kicking off the festivities. Running through March 2, more than 600 pieces are to be on display including those from 55 independent designers, Hermès, Boucheron and Dior.

BEAUTY-SHOP TALK: Skin-care brand Caudalie has just opened its first freestanding boutique in Paris. The 500-square-foot space is nestled on the Marais’ Rue des Francs Bourgeois, a bustling street already home to beauty labels like Guerlain, Kiehl’s and Bobbi Brown.

The Caudalie shop has light-colored wooden merchandising units stocking the brand’s entire range, a marble countertop and plasma screen featuring views of the Château Smith Haut Lafitte in the French wine country of Bordeaux, its birthplace. Caudalie is expected to add a treatment cabin to the location by yearend, as well.

Elsewhere in the Marais neighborhood is the new Huygens shop, selling custom-made organic beauty items. With 17 essential oils from which to choose, customers can have products — including body lotions, massage oils and hair products — concocted especially for them on the spot.

NOW BREATHE: The bright, low-key and conveniently located new yoga studio Yoga Village offers classes from beginner’s to Vinyasa, Jivamukti, Ashtanga and Integral, among others, including Pilates mat, in English and French.

“The idea was to introduce a real range [of varieties],” noted owner Laurent Commergnat, a yoga student himself. No reservations are necessary, as classes are first-come, first-served, with a mat included. A trial class and the Thursday Yoga Solidaire session are priced at 10 euros, or $13. The regular price is 22 euros, or $29.50, per class. During fashion week, Yoga Village will offer a limited number of free classes for clients who connect through its Facebook page.

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